Financial Mail and Business Day

Board suspends CEO of fiscal commission

• Acting chief says financial irregularities are behind precautionary action against Kay Brown

Linda Ensor Parliamentary Writer

The CEO of the constitutional body tasked with advising the Treasury on its fiscal framework and intergovernmental relations has been suspended amid allegations of misconduct. It is also pending the outcome of investigations into the financial irregularities that have plagued the organisation.

The Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC), which exercises oversight over government spending, should be an example of financial rectitude for the rest of government but its 2020/2021 annual report shows that it has been beset by high levels of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and has suffered from supply chain weaknesses.

CEO Kay Brown was placed on precautionary suspension, something that is done to ensure the person involved does not obstruct investigators as they seek evidence, on November 25. She was replaced in an acting capacity by the head of research, Chen Wei Tseng.

Brown joined the FFC in April 2018 after working for about 16 years for the Treasury where she was highly regarded. Her last position was chief director for expenditure and planning.

Brown said on Thursday evening that she needed time to consider the request for comment and would respond “in due course”.

Tseng said there were a number of financial irregularities in the FFC that lay behind Brown’s suspension and he praised the decisive action taken by chair Patience Mbava and the board.

Mbava has only been in the position for about three months, having been appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in August. Mbava said the precautionary suspension related to a number of investigations under way stemming from the 2020/2021 annual report. No conclusions have been reached yet.

Tseng said the charge sheet against Brown is being drawn up. They are matters, he added, that the FFC should not shy away from. “We should have led by example and our credibility is at stake,” he said.

One of the matters under

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2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

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